Montgomery poultry farmers named 2011 Outstanding Young Farm Family

View full sizeJeremy and Lindsey Brown of Montgomery County captured the 2011 Outstanding Young Farm Family award at Monday night's closing session of the 90th Annual Meeting of the Alabama Farmers Federation. Among the prizes presented were a new John Deere Gator, courtesy of Alabama Ag Credit and Alabama Farm Credit. From left, are: Doug Thiessen of Alabama Ag Credit, Jeremy and Lindsey Brown and their daughters Ansley, 2, and Lydia Grace, 2 months, Ben Gore of Alabama Farm Credit and Federation President Jerry Newby. (Farmers Federation)

MOBILE, Alabama -- Jeremy and Lindsey Brown of Montgomery County were named Alabama’s Outstanding Young Farm Family during the Alabama Farmers Federation’s 90th annual meeting in Mobile today. The Browns, who are poultry farmers, were selected to compete for the award earlier this year after being named the Outstanding Young Farm Family (OYFF) in the Poultry Division. They have two daughters: Ansley, 2, and Lydia Grace, 2 months.

The OYFF program, now in its 54th year, seeks to recognize young farm families and farmers between the ages of 18 and 35 who are doing an outstanding job in their farm, home and community activities, and promote a better understanding of agriculture with the urban populace. As this year’s winner, the Browns will participate in many activities promoting Alabama agriculture during 2012. They will also receive a John Deere Gator courtesy of Alabama Ag Credit and Alabama Farm Credit; a personal computer package courtesy of Valcom/CCS Wireless; a lease of a John Deere tractor courtesy of Tri-Green, SunSouth and Snead Ag; the use of a new Chevrolet Traverse from the Alabama Farmers Federation; and an expense-paid trip to the 2012 American Farm Bureau Annual Meeting in January, where they will compete for the American Farm Bureau Young Farmer and Rancher Achievement Award.

In addition to raising their daughters and maintaining a six-house, 132,000-bird poultry farm, Jeremy and Lindsey see it as their duty to serve on several committees within the Alabama Farmers Federation.

Jeremy serves as the youngest member of the Federation’s State Poultry Committee, has been the Montgomery County Poultry Committee chairman, served on the county Farm-City Committee and is the county Young Farmers chairman.

Lindsey serves on the Montgomery County Farmers Federation Women’s Leadership Committee, the county Poultry Committee and is involved with the county Young Farmers program. Their enthusiasm for agriculture helped secure their place as this year’s overall winner.

“Farming in a seven-day-a-week job, but it’s not a set time every day,” said Jeremy, a third-generation poultry farmer. “That allows us to give back on a local level, a county level and state level, but I still feel like I haven’t contributed as much to it as I’ve received from it.”

Lindsay, who has a bachelor’s in education from Troy University, credits the Farmers Federation for helping them understand how important agriculture is to Alabama. “Before we joined the Farmers Federation, we didn’t know the significance of our role within agriculture,” said Lindsey. “We knew we wanted to farm, but we didn’t know how significant our part was until we got behind an organization that pushed us to be better.”

The Alabama Farmers Federation is the state’s largest farm organization and is a member of the American Farm Bureau Federation.